Kings don't want Cup to be one-year fling

Kings GM Dean Lombardi holds up the Stanley Cup after the Kings won in 2012. Lombardi has said it isn't about having one good year, but rather building a program that lasts. BRUCE BENNETT, GETTY IMAGES

CHICAGO – Winning six consecutive playoff series does not make for a dynasty, but it's a start.

A good one, too, for the Kings, considering they spent 45 years wandering in the desert, parched for any type of success, before they won the first Stanley Cup in franchise history last June.

Now the Kings are back in the Western Conference Finals – Game 1 is Saturday afternoon at Chicago – and it feels a bit ho-hum. A year ago, Kings fans were giddy when their team made the conference finals. Now they'd be upset with a series loss. This attitude pleases General Manager Dean Lombardi.

Upon his arrival seven years ago, Lombardi stressed one word: "culture." It wasn't about having one good year, or winning one Stanley Cup. Lombardi wanted to build something that would last.

An amateur student of history – mostly sports and military – Lombardi regularly speaks to players and executives from teams with winning traditions, such as the New England Patriots and San Francisco 49ers. What does it take to win? And once you've won, what is the motivation to push for more?

"There's another level that an athlete should want to reach, even after they've already won one," Lombardi said. "To be in the mode of the (Detroit) Red Wings and the (Green Bay) Packers and the Patriots, there's another level that they need to strive for. I think we're progressing toward that."

The Kings are in the conference finals a year after winning the Cup, something only one of the previous eight champions accomplished. A Cup winner hasn't repeated since Detroit in 1997 and 1998.

League parity has greatly increased since the salary cap went in place in 2005, but even so, a handful of top teams have separated themselves. This year's conference finalists are also the last four teams to win the Stanley Cup: Pittsburgh (2009), Chicago (2010), Boston (2011) and the Kings.

Lombardi often points to the Red Wings, who have made the playoffs for 22 consecutive seasons, as the model of what he wants to build: a long-term winner, not dependent on one or two star players.

"They keep doing it," Lombardi said. "A big part of it is they still have that holdover. They expect to win, and gosh darn it if they don't find a way to do it. The extreme example is the Patriots. Nobody gets (the roster) stripped down more than them, and they keep pounding away. It can be done. It's certainly incredibly difficult, but that's what we've got to do anyway. That's our job."

Building a perennial winner takes a shrewd GM, one who can fill roster holes, and an adaptable coach, one who won't get tuned out by players. The Kings have both, as well as a young roster built around goalie Jonathan Quick, defenseman Drew Doughty and forwards Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown.

Mostly, though, it's about player attitude and motivation.

Consider, for one, Brown. He's the team captain and a nine-year NHL veteran. Five games into the Kings' second-round series against San Jose, Coach Darryl Sutter told Brown he was moving, not only from the first line to the third line, but from right wing to left wing.

Brown made no peeps of protest. He teamed with Dwight King and Trevor Lewis to form an effective shutdown third line, and the Kings closed out the Sharks in seven games.

"It's about giving ourselves, as a team, the best chance of winning," Brown said. "It's not about where individuals play, or who you're playing with. It's about giving the team the best opportunity to win."

Teammates notice. If the captain is willing to take on any role, how can they complain?

"I think that's the best thing about our team," winger Dustin Penner said. "You saw Brownie on the third line. You put your selfish pride away, because it's about a team goal, and I think that's why we've won six series in the last (12) months, because we worry about the end result more than anything else."

There are no guarantees, though. Those vaunted Red Wings needed a final-week push simply to make the playoffs. The Kings, early-season favorites to repeat, wobbled with a 3-5-2 start to the season, but then finished February with a 7-1 record and stabilized their playoff position.

"That was a critical stretch of games for us," Sutter said, "but we didn't get here by accident. We won the Stanley Cup last year."

Now they've got a chance to do it again and perhaps for years to come.

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